A Review of the Mexico Recharge & Renew Retreat with Sylvia Brallier

One of the pyramids at Coba

Eso fue un viaje increíble!
I am still processing the awe-inspiring, life-changing, and blockage-releasing trip that was Mexico. And I am still integrating and incorporating the spiritual "upgrades" and "initiations" received there.

The Recharge & Renew Retreat (say that three times fast!) began on April Fool's Day, a perfect day to release all preconceived notions, drama, work-stuff, and just Trust. In fact, I had a huge amount of traffic on my way down to BWI, which really made me feel like the Fool trusting in the leap off of the cliff (in Tarot)!

Upon arriving at the airport in Cancún, I immediately felt that shiver up the spine that let me know that This Trip was going to be both a balm to my damaged Spirit (see previous post) and an Inspiration to begin my daily self-healing and energy practices again.

The location that Sylvia picked was heavenly: right on the turquoise blue ocean, with a pool, laundry facilities, private rooms, and gourmet vegan meals! After unpacking, I immediately jumped into the pool, and felt the last of the worry, unease, panic, anxiety, and travel wear-down leave my body. Ahhhhhhh

Sylvia was extremely flexible with the Retreat schedule, which allowed the attendees' energy levels dictate the events each day. She set up a great balance of rituals, outside trips, shopping excursions, local dining, social groups, and shamanic workshops. I truly enjoyed that a day of rest and integration followed each day of Spirit Work (for example, there was a day of rest planned after the long journey to Cobá, which allowed everyone to swim, eat, sit in companionable silence, journal, draw Tarot cards, etc.).

After the first day, Sylvia gave a workshop on Maya Astrology. I learned that there are numerous calendars used, but the Tzolk'in calendar uses the relationships between 13 sacred numbers and 20 sacred spirits in order to determine the energy of a day. My special day, in Qu'iche Maya, is 4 Keij (really strong elemental focus!), and that type of day can show up more than once in a calendar year (two parties!). I have really enjoyed looking up the energies of each day, and sometimes there is overlapping information in both Western Astrology (Scorpio) and Qu'iche Maya Astrology (Nahuales), such as the most recent Full Moon Eclipse this past week (April 15, 2014).

I had three major Spiritual highlights to my trip: the journey to Cobá, swimming in the sacred Cenote 7 Bocas, and participating in the Shamanic Breathwork ceremony that cleared away all final blockages and assisted me in Journeying to the Rainbow Serpent. Each will get their own blog article, as they were breathtaking, beautiful, awe-inspiring, and unbelievable.

On a more personal and social note, I went on this trip by myself, and did not know a single soul except for Sylvia herself. The Universe put together the most genuine, powerful, thoughtful, healing, and caring women (and one man!) for this Retreat, and I felt especially blessed with my roommate (who was also from Baltimore!). Each and every individual was very spiritual, and comfortable with socializing about nearly anything and everything. And most importantly, all knew how to pick up on signs that someone needed a hug, or Grounding & Centering, or even silence but a nearby presence, in order to process things. Although we all had rooms with spectacular view, everyone ended up congregating in the Kitchen/Dining Room area to socialize and be with each other (the WiFi also was very important)!

I would advise anyone to take the leap and join in one of Sylvia's Spiritual Retreats, and to rise above the fear and worry and even make the trip alone. Because if her Retreats are similar to this one I just attended, it will be life-changing. She has the magical ability to facilitate deep and profound connections to Spirits, and to bring forth the body's amazing ability to heal itself. I love her dearly, and her joy, silliness, wisdom, and genuine love made this one of the high points of my own Spiritual Evolution.